Desert Lights
by PaceysLilMcPhee
Summary: Maria agrees to let Michael take her out on her birthday. Michael plans a great evening: Is Maria impressed? Read to find out. Takes place after “I Married an Alien.” M/M Obviously


Title: Desert Lights  
  
1 Author: Lauren  
  
2 Email: PaceysLilMcPhee@aol.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell, Michael (although I wish I did), or Maria. It's all very sad. When I'm sad I write. So therefore, I am writing this fanfic about Michael and Maria because I am sad that I don't own them. Hehe.  
  
Summary: Maria agrees to let Michael take her out on her birthday. Michael plans a great evening: Is Maria impressed? Read to find out. Takes place after "I Married an Alien."  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Category: Candy – Michael/Maria  
  
  
  
Max sat in front of the TV at Michael's apartment. He was watching a horribly bad TV movie, when he was distracted, by Michael, who came running out of his bedroom with his jacket flying behind him.  
  
"Where are you going?" Max asked. Michael hadn't gone almost anywhere for awhile; he had been spending his time in front of the TV or following Max over to Isabel's. He hadn't been in the greatest of moods. Max was pretty sure he knew what it was about too.  
  
"Out. Gotta go to the store and I've do a little research," Michael replied.  
  
Max was utterly confused. "Research? Michael, what's going on?"  
  
Michael grabbed a Snapple out of the refrigerator and stopped moving to face Max. "Maria agreed to let me take her out on her birthday."  
  
"That's great, but why are you rushing around?" Max asked.  
  
Michael shrugged. "What else do I have to do? Besides, I think I've seen every episode of 'Bewitched' by now. I've got stuff to do, I'm out." Michael ran out the door, which closed with a bang. Max just shook his head. He had never seen Michael like this. And he had never known Michael to use the word research…  
  
"Why did I say yes again?" Maria asked Liz. Maria and Liz were hanging out in Maria's room before Maria had to leave for her night out with Michael. She had agreed to go, deciding that they were still friends, after all.  
  
"You said yes because it's Michael," Liz answered, smiling.  
  
Maria scowled at her best friend. "Not true."  
  
"You said yes because it's your birthday and no matter what, Michael is at least your friend. He just wanted to do something nice."  
  
"Michael? Nice? Wow, those two words in the same sentence," Maria said with a grin.  
  
"Yeah well, you have to admit compared to when we met him, he has changed a lot," Liz said. "You know, he must really love you because I've never seen Michael Guerin act anything like the way he does when it comes to things that affect you."  
  
Maria grew serious as she answered Liz. "He's said he loves me. And I never said I didn't love him," she said, "but that's not the reason I broke things off."  
  
"I know," Liz said, nodding.  
  
"So, whatta think?" Maria said after she had finished applying her lip gloss. She wore a red spaghetti strap shirt with a sheer shirt that was made to be worn over the spaghetti strap. The sheer material was black with red roses on it. Maria had paired it with a dark jean skirt that she had borrowed from Liz. She had even managed to find her once lost necklace that held a small vial containing a miniature rose.  
  
"Perfect," Liz answered.  
  
"You're too kind. So, you and Max are off to do something tonight?" Maria questioned.  
  
Liz nodded and said, "Yeah, I think Michael is going to drop him off here when he comes to pick you up, because even though my parents are okay with me and Max dating again, I didn't feel like putting him or myself through 20 questions tonight."  
  
"Good idea, good idea," Maria said, understanding.  
  
"I think we'll just walk around. Maybe catch a movie. So that's why I'm going to wait around for Michael to pick you up."  
  
"Okay then. Nice to know you and Max are actually going to go out on a date, you haven't done that in awhile. I was beginning to wonder if you two were still together," Maria joked.  
  
"Yeah, I know," Liz said, "but it's easier now that my dad's okay with it. I didn't like having to dodge him just to be with Max."  
  
"Well now you don't have to worry about it. But if you're going out tonight with Max, at least put some lip gloss on!" Maria exclaimed, tossing Liz her clear lip gloss that smelled distinctly of vanilla. Liz caught it and rolled her eyes good-naturedly at Maria before daubing it on. The doorbell rang and Maria turned to face Liz and smiled. "They're here!" she said and then skipped off to answer the door. Liz just shook her head as she replaced the lip gloss back on Maria's dresser and grabbed her hair brush.  
  
Maria reached the door and opened it to reveal Michael. Max wasn't far behind; he was hanging out in her front yard, admiring the setting sun.  
  
"Hey," Maria said smiling at Michael.  
  
"Hey," he said back, "Happy birthday."  
  
"Thanks," she said and then glanced behind him and shouted at Max, "You're girlfriend's here."  
  
Max moseyed up to the door and stood next to Michael. "Yeah, I heard," he said. "Happy birthday, by the way," he added hugging her.  
  
"Thank you, I'm feeling the love," Maria said, pulling away to let them inside.  
  
"So, where are we going?" she asked Michael, obviously very curious.  
  
"Told you before, surprise," he answered.  
  
Maria raised an eyebrow and studied Michael. "Not even a hint?"  
  
"Nope," he said, not budging in his decision.  
  
She sighed and Max chuckled.  
  
"What's so funny?" she demanded.  
  
"Nothing, nothing," Max said. "It's just obvious it's driving you crazy not knowing." Maria glared at Max and he tried to stifle his laugh.  
  
"It is not," she said.  
  
"Sure it is," Michael said.  
  
"It is not," Maria said. Then she sighed. "Okay maybe a little."  
  
Michael smirked and Maria, noticing, exclaimed, "You wanted it to, didn't you?!"  
  
"Maybe," he answered, not succeeding in wiping the smirk from his face. "You'll know when you get there."  
  
"I can wait," Maria said haughtily.  
  
Liz entered the room and seeing Max and Michael, greeted them. She approached Max and kissed him lightly on the cheek.  
  
"Well, let's go," Michael said.  
  
"Okay, see you two later!" Maria said as she followed Michael out to the car.  
  
"Have fun!" Liz called after her.  
  
"You too! Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Maria said.  
  
Maria slid into the passenger seat next to Michael as he turned the key and started the car. Within seconds, they were driving away from Maria's house. But she still had no idea where he was taking her.  
  
After a few seconds of silence, Maria spoke up. "Thanks for taking me out tonight. It was really nice and…thoughtful of you."  
  
"It's no problem," he responded, "after all it's your birthday. I'm glad you agreed to come."  
  
After a few more minutes of silence Maria asked again, "So…are you going to tell me where we're going?"  
  
"I told you, nope."  
  
"Not even a hint?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Not even part of a hint?"  
  
"No. I told you, I wanted it to be a surprise," he said. Michael reached over and turned on the radio. He searched for a good station and stopped when he heard a song he remembered Maria saying she loved once.  
  
"This okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I like this song," she answered.  
  
"I thought so," he said.  
  
Maria hummed along to the song as she watched the streets of Roswell pass by quickly. She started singing softly and Michael listened carefully. She had a beautiful voice. He had remembered that when he had started thinking of a present for her. He hoped she liked what he had spent time searching for.  
  
Michael drove out to the desert and parked the car. He opened the door, got out, and walked to the rear of the car. Maria followed him. As he fiddled with the lock on the trunk, Maria questioned, "What are we doing here?"  
  
Michael popped open the trunk and looked to Maria. "Picnic," he said. "I made some food. And I thought we could watch for something."  
  
"What's that?" Maria asked.  
  
"Ever heard of the northern lights?"  
  
Maria grew wide-eyed. "I didn't think you could see them this far south in the west."  
  
"Well, apparently you can. I mean it's only a chance thing but I thought it might be something you'd like to see. Besides, people saw them in North Carolina and they can't normally either. I figured we had a chance."  
  
"This will be great," Maria said. Michael grabbed the blanket and container he used to carry the food in. He was glad it was a warm night despite the fact that it wasn't summer.  
  
Michael spread the blanket down a few yards from the car and placed the food on top of it. They both sat down and began to shuffle through the containers.  
  
"You made this stuff?" Maria asked.  
  
Michael nodded. "Yeah. The chicken was the hardest."  
  
"It's good," Maria commented after swallowing a bite.  
  
"Thanks. In the smallest container are sunflower seeds; I just roasted them. I thought, kinda like popcorn at the movies. Something like that."  
  
"I love sunflower seeds," she said. "So how did you know there was a chance of seeing the northern lights tonight?"  
  
"I did some research," Michael said shrugging. "I knew what they were since I was interested in stuff to do with anything out in space or in the sky when I was younger."  
  
"Wow, research. I was just expecting a movie or something you know."  
  
"Well, I figured you'd want to see them and so did I."  
  
They continued eating and for awhile all that could be heard was the rustling of the containers and the wind that blew softly. When they were almost finished, Michael thought about his gift. He reached for the square package that was wrapped in a brown paper. He thrust it towards Maria. "Here," he said. "It's nothing too special."  
  
Maria took the gift and looked from it to Michael. "I thought this outing was my gift."  
  
Michael just shook his head and stuffed his mouth again with the chicken.  
  
"Not that I'm complaining or anything," she said. She tore the brown wrapping off and revealed a CD but with no label.  
  
"It's not Metallica is it?" Maria joked with a grin on her face.  
  
Michael shook his head and pushed a walkman to her. "Listen to it."  
  
She carefully took the CD out of the case and placed it in the CD player. It began to play and at first there was silence. Then, there was a voice. Michael's voice. And then…HER voice. It was the song she had sung when they were in Las Vegas! How had Michael gotten this on a CD? She slid the headphones off and looked at him. "How did you get this?"  
  
Michael swallowed what he was eating and answered, "I just called up the place and asked if they taped their acts. Turns out they do, and all I did was ask them to send it to me. They did and then I had Isabel show me how to use some equipment at her school to put it on the CD. I just thought you might like to have a copy of that. Might be nice to have some day."  
  
Maria nodded. "Thanks Michael, this is great…I would never have thought to do something like this."  
  
"No big deal. You're good at singing."  
  
"Thanks." Maria crawled over and hugged him. After she pulled away, they sat next to each other and starred up at the sky.  
  
"We'd better be able to see them," Michael grumbled.  
  
"Either way Michael, this was nice."  
  
"Glad you liked it," he said.  
  
They sat next to each other for awhile, waiting to see beauty of the aura borealis. Michael began to grow impatient but Maria urged him to stay just a little longer.  
  
"Look, you keep watching and I'll put some of this stuff in the trunk," Michael said as he reached for the containers in which he had brought the food. As he began to stack them to make them easier to carry, he heard Maria gasp and say, "Michael! Look!"  
  
He looked up and saw a bright green wave across the sky. It reminded him of a wave, a wave of water. It was a beautiful, vivid, green light that waved to them across the dark night sky. Michael hadn't known they had looked like this. Pictures of what he was seeing now were nothing compared to the real thing. He glanced at Maria and noticed she couldn't take her eyes off of it. He looked back at the display, extremely glad he had thought about this. It turned out something from his research about the region above and beyond the Earth had come in handy.  
  
On the drive back to Maria's house, neither said hardly a word. They both seemed to be making sure that the memory of that miraculous display stuck in their minds forever. When they were almost to Maria's house, she looked at him and finally broke the silence.  
  
"Thanks for taking me out tonight. It was great. The northern lights…I've never seen them before, they're beautiful."  
  
"You're welcome," Michael replied. "I'm glad we got to see them. I've always wanted to."  
  
"Really?" she asked.  
  
"Well, yeah, since I've read about them. I've always wondered what they were about."  
  
"They're beautiful."  
  
Michael nodded as he pulled up to her house. Maria stepped out of the car and Michael walked her up to her door. She turned when she reached the door and faced him.  
  
"I guess I'll see you at work."  
  
"Yeah, I guess."  
  
"Okay, well, thanks again."  
  
"You're welcome again. Bye," Michael said and started to walk about to the car. Maria stood surprised. She was happy; the thought he had put into tonight was what made the night special. She held the CD he had given her in her hand. She was also glad but surprised that he hadn't kissed her when they said goodbye. Although he was very special to her and she wanted him to be happy, she wasn't sure of who she was yet. She had kinda lost her way and was still trying to find her way back. Before Michael reached his car, she called after him, "Michael!"  
  
He turned and she walked back up to him.  
  
"Um," she said a little unsure of what to say. "I don't want you waiting around for me."  
  
"What?" he said.  
  
"Not that you are," Maria said. "I still love you," she said quickly, "it's just, I need to know who I am. I can't be with you or anyone until I know who I am. It's not fair to you or to me. But I don't want you waiting around for me to find out what I've lost and who I am. You don't have to wait for me. I want you to be able to move on."  
  
Michael looked at Maria and responded, "The night that you broke up with me, I asked you if you would come back to me. I still want you to. So, as long as you're waiting to find out who you are or whatever, I don't mind waiting either."  
  
Maria nodded, "I'm going to need a little space but I still want you to be my friend, like I said before. Oh, and just so you know, you're doing a pretty good job so far," she said tilting her head to the side and grinning. "So, see you at work."  
  
"Yeah, see you at work."  
  
Michael climbed back into the car and Maria watched him drive off down the street. Tonight had been perfect. It was nice to know that someone cared about you, even if it was someone like Michael, who didn't show it too obviously, too often. But at least he wasn't overbearingly mushy, Maria thought. It was nice to know he was there for her. And tonight she would store away as a good memory to look back on. She hoped he would do the same. She knew he would. 


End file.
